If you understand nothing else about the Catholic Church’s active practice of criminal activity, consider that this story from only a day ago could not have happened without a network of help and assistance from within its walls:

 

As for the rest of this article, it will deal with:

  1. Violations committed against children by two churches
  2. Technical legal arguments in support of the possible requirement to suspend their tax-exempt statuses

Introduction

Charities enjoy a status that allows them to operate while paying no corporate income tax under 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). For different kinds of non-profits, such as fraternal orders and veterans organizations, there are other parts of the code to accommodate them. This article is going to address two religious organizations that boast millions of members, hold billions in assets, and have incorporated criminal activity into their daily best practices.

The two organizations are the Church of Scientology and the Catholic Church. Under the law, they deserve a fair investigation to see if they should be allowed to continue on any level, but only their tax-exempt status will be discussed in this article.

Scientology

On a daily basis the Church of Scientology violates contract and labor laws, and is currently being accused of human trafficking, with its practice of having minors sign contracts to become members of its staff. These contracts range from 2 to 1,000,000,000 (one-billion) years.

The 1,000,000,000 year contract is to be served over many lifetimes.

According to interviews with several people who were born into Scientology, or brought in at a young age, the opportunity to sign up for either length of time is always available, starting at age 12. These details have been corroborated in interviews by the following former members:

 

Per her own statements, Ms. DeCrescenzo began working “an adult schedule” of 112 hours per week at age 13. In a lawsuit she not only discussed the billion-year contract signed at the age of 12, but also alleged that she was the victim of a forced abortion at 17 (Bartley, 2016).

The contract and labor law violations are many, and vary in name, but not typically in practice. For example, according to Cal. Ed. Code § 49116, no minor at the age of 14 or 15 in California can work more than 3 hours per day, or 18 hours per week unless the work is school-supervised, which will raise the ceiling to 23 hours. It also clearly states that the federal minimum wage must be paid, begging the question of when former Scientologists will file a class-action lawsuit to collect on the difference of what they were paid, and what was legal from the ages they joined to the age of majority, plus lost income for those who were injured on the job, or lost educational opportunities.

 

Former Scientologists may be able to file a class-action lawsuit to collect on the difference of what they were paid and what was legal from the ages they joined to the age of majority, plus lost income for those who were injured on the job, or lost educational opportunities.

 

Many minors are presented with these opportunities when they have finished 6th grade, specifically. If they attend a private school run by Scientologists, according to Nick Lister’s interview with Aaron Smith-Levin, children will be pulled out of class to watch recruitment videos and meet with recruiters (Lister, 2015). At the point when they join, they no longer attend school, which brings another legal violation that the Church of Scientology uses as a best practice: Education laws.

 

 

Compulsory education laws mandate that children in most states between the ages of 6 and 17 attend school. There are exceptions, such as if a child graduates early, is emancipated, or is Amish – Wisconsin v. Yoder found it was appropriate for Amish children to attend school only up until 8th grade. Parents and guardians who violate this law risk being sent to prison for 30 days in states such as Delaware, Georgia and Tennessee, and up to 1 year in California where truancy begins when 30 minutes has been missed unexcused (Chasan, 2015).

According to former Scientologist Tom Devocht, he was working, not in school, at the age of 14 (Devocht, 2015).

Lastly, it must be stated that the Church of Scientology has been alleged to have engaged in false imprisonment, harassment, and slander/libel. It has even been said to the author of this piece that for having work published about their qualification to be a tax-exempt organization that he will be on the receiving end of such actions, even being sued into bankruptcy. Something similar happened to author Paulette Cooper when the group conspired in something they called “Operation Freakout” after her 1971 book was published. She was sued a total of 19 times, and the FBI later found that the church planned to frame and murder Ms. Cooper. The framing involved sending bomb threats to themselves and others by using her personal stationery and typewriter (Wakefield, 1990). In 1985 they settled with her out of court (Nestel, 2015).

Given the number of children working in Scientology, there are also proven incidents of statutory rape that are never brought to justice. One such case, according to Aaron Smith-Levin, involved his twin brother, who was in a relationship with a woman 4 years his senior while he was a minor and she was not (Smith-Levin, 2017).

Catholicism

Contending with Scientology, non-religious human trafficking and Big Porn, the Catholic Church may be the biggest perpetrator of rape, assault, child abuse, and molestation in the world. These crimes have gone to the most powerful people in the organization, and the results of protecting and harboring the criminals under its employ is promotion to the highest position.

As seen in yesterday’s news story at the top of this article, these incidents have come to light recently, but also repeatedly throughout history, such as in the 2002 story by the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” team, which inspired a film by the same name.

READ THE SPOTLIGHT STORY BY CLICKING HERE

In that 2002 story it was noted that Cardinal Bernard F. Law approved the relocation of John Geoghan, a priest well-known for molesting children, to a private grammar school, even after a bishop formally protested in writing (but never to the police). It was not until this priest was of age to retire on Social Security that he was finally defrocked, and it was not until approximately a year after the Boston Globe story that Cardinal Law stepped down of his own accord and stopped protecting the dozens of offending Boston priests under his care. Until his death, he lived in Vatican City where he was said to be “forcefully supporting” the investigation into, and crack down of, a group of American nuns who formed the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (Bratu, 2012).

 

Cardinal Bernard F. Law dedicated his life in the US to covering up molestation, and placing rapists in schools. Then he dedicated his retirement to going after nuns who supported each other.

 

The priests Cardinal Law could no longer protect were not necessarily brought to justice. They were relocated; some are still active in the church community. For example, the website BishopAccountability.org notes that in the Diocese of Rockville Centre (where the author was baptized, received First Communion, and confirmed) 66 accused priests were not only being protected, but practicing, such as William Logan. Logan had been accused of repeatedly molesting a 13-year-old girl in 1980 in Seaford, NY. The result of the complaint from the mother was that he was sent 11 miles away – that’s not a typo; this sick freak didn’t even have to change which grocery store he shopped at – to nearby Westbury from 1980-1985 (where the author lived from 1982-1984). Logan was not suspended from the priesthood until 26 years later, only to be reinstated until criminal charges were pressed against him after yet another incident.

For some perspective, from 1980-1990, there were about 600 total priests in this Diocese, per it's own data. This means that for every 9 priests, 1 was a known predator.

By knowingly endangering communities around the world, the Catholic Church’s leaders are breaking the law as they obstruct justice.

Up until about 20 years ago, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was among the chief internal prosecutors until he was named Pope in 2005.  As a prosecutor, Ratzinger dismissed clergy more often than others, and set about notable reforms, but he still failed immensely by recognizing the power of the church over the distinction of good and evil, and later admitted to lying about what he knew. For example, he took action against a very popular Mexican priest, and accused criminal, named Marcial Degollado, and the result was that he “took him out of active service” (Pancevski & Follain, 2010), leaving all criminal matters for the parishioners to handle. After years of protecting and harboring this awful rapist, the church’s position has always been to stand aside when they can no longer do so, as opposed to embracing and protecting members of its flock.

They will neither witness, nor testify.

Summary of Broken Laws

The Church of Scientology is in violation of various federal and state laws regarding contracts, labor and education. This is a daily practice, and may be occurring right now.

At first glance, one might mistakenly assume that the Catholic Church is in violation of 18 U.S.C. §2250, which deals with sex offenders failing to register, but that is untrue. While there are clearly many sex offenders harbored by this church, if they have not been convicted of any crime, they do not have to register.

What the church is guilty of is obstruction of justice by willfully intending to not only refuse to turn over many dangerous criminals, but to knowingly put parishioners in harm’s way. For those who feel that obstruction of justice is too lenient an accusation, or holds little weight, please remember it is the reason President Trump was impeached, and was why Presidents Nixon and Clinton were, as well.

What is important to remember is that these organizations honestly believe they adhere to a higher power, and a higher law, and that’s the very point being made here.

How Does Serving a Higher Power Relate to Tax-Exempt Status?

Non-profit status for a business is a privilege that must be earned and maintained. It is typically tested by way of an annual review or audit. Violations of the law can result in the loss of this status.

No organization has a right to be a non-profit; they have the privilege, and they do so at the pleasure of a nation that acknowledges their worthiness to do so.

Conclusion: Scientology

The Church of Scientology clearly owes back pay of minimum wage, plus overtime, to those who worked there while minors. So, if a church staff member worked 80 hours per week as a minor for one year, but was only paid $50 each week when minimum wage was $7.25 per hour, then that staff member would be owed $35,100, plus interest and any loss of wages on future earnings, such as if he or she was injured on the job.

These children were not of the age of majority, regardless of how many past lives they were believed to have lived, which is part of the Scientology doctrine – that children are no different from adults as a result of their past lives.

 

Scientology teaches that children are like adults because they have lived past lives, and so can work full-time, engage in contracts, and do other adult things.

 

Even if it was true that we have lived billions of lives, it is also still true that United States labor law does not allow enforceable labor contracts with minors, be they for 2 years, or 1,000,000,000, and not for less than the mandated minimum wage. And for that, they must be brought under review for reconsideration regarding their non-profit status under 501(c)(3).

Additionally, supervising adults who aided the organization in these violations against children should be held to account criminally and civilly.

Conclusion: Catholic Church

If the Catholic Church willfully violates the law of the United States, then it must do so at the loss of its tax-exempt status.

There have been instances where critics argued that it should lose its 501(c)(3) status because some members of clergy endorse some members of politics, but it must be noted that a member of the clergy is also a private citizen. As such he has a right, in most cases, to state who he is voting for, and who he believes for whom someone else should vote.

But when the church has been proven to have harbored, protected, and emboldened nearly 1,700 pedophiles and rapists by actively obstructing justice, and then stands by passively during criminal proceedings, it should be made to answer for such actions on all applicable levels, including their non-profit status under 501(c)(3).

In addition to the Catholic Church having its non-profit status suspended, top organizational leaders in the United States need to be held to account by the Department of Justice, at a minimum, with consideration to 18 U.S. Code §371, which covers conspiracy to commit an offense by two or more people – the offense being the cover-up – as well as any state law violations, including, but not limited to, NY Penal L §260.10, endangering the welfare of a child.

Non-Profit Status Can Be Reinstated

This is not to say that these organizations are not churches – they obviously are – nor that they could not regain tax-exempt status in as little as a year, but there must be a clear message sent to any and all businesses that if they wish to operate outside of the law, and so clearly in a criminal manner that endangers children as a matter of best practice, that they will be held to account as an organization, and on an individual level.

 

Christopher Pascale is the former CFO of the non-profit Portfolios with Purpose. He has an MBA in Accounting from St. Joseph’s University and currently serves as a financial management analyst for the federal government and is an adjunct professor of accounting at SUNY Suffolk Community College. This article reflects his own opinions based on the law as he understands it, and is in no way meant to imply that of the US Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service, or the legal/accounting department of SUNY Suffolk County Community College

 

Unlinked Citations

Bartley, L. (2016). Scientology: woman alleges forced abortion in lawsuit vs. church. KABC-TV. Los Angeles.

Bratu, B. (2012). US priests reportedly behind Vatican crackdown on nuns. NBC News. https://usnews.newsvine.com/_news/2012/05/10/11597887-us-priests-reportedly-behind-vatican-crackdown-on-nuns. Retrieved 2 June, 2017.

Chasan, A. (2015). Truancy laws around the country: fines up to $2k, up to one year in jail. New York Daily News. New York.

Devocht, T. (2015). Going clear with Scientology member turned whistleblower Tom Devocht. Media Mayhem. Los Angeles.

Lister, N. (2015). Ex-Scientologist Nick Lister – the full interview. Growing up in Scientology. Clearwater.

Nestel, M.L. (2015). Scientology’s first ‘victim’. The Daily Beast. http://thedailybeast.com/scientologys-first-victim. Retrieved 27 May, 2017.

Pancevski, B. & Follain, J. (2010). John Paul ‘ignored abuse of 2,000 boys’. The Sunday Times. London.

Smith-Levin, A. (2017). Aaron Smith-Levin: Scientology’s hate websites. Growing up in Scientology. Clearwater.

Wakefield, M. (1990). Affidavit of Margery Wakefield (13 April, 1990). Federal Court in Tampa, Florida, Case 82-1313-Civ-T-10. http://xenu-directory.net/documents/wakefield19900413.html. Retrieved 1 June, 2017.